1. 'T is a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try again;
Then your courage should appear,
For, if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear;
Try, try again.
2. Once or twice though you should fail,
Try, try again;
If you would at last prevail,
Try, try again;
If we strive, 'tis no disgrace
Though we do not win the race;
What should you do in the case?
Try, try again.
3. If you find your task is hard,
Try, try again;
Time will bring you your reward,
Try, try again.
All that other folks can do,
Why, with patience, should not you?
Only keep this rule in view:
Try, try again.
DEFINITIONS.--l. Cour'age, resolution. Con'quer, gain the vic-tory. 2.
Pre-vail, overcome. Dis-grace', shame. Win, gain, ob-tain. 3. Re-ward',
anything given in return for good or bad con-duct. Pa'-tience, constany in
labor.
EXERCISES.--What does the mark before "'T is" mean?
What is it called? What point is used after the word "case" in
the second stanza? Why?
III. WHY THE SEA IS SALT. (29)
A FAIRY TALE.
Mary Howitt was born in 1804, at Coleford, England. She wrote many
charming stories for children in prose and verse, and also translated many
from Swedish, Danish, and German authors. This story is arranged from one
in a collection named "Peter Drake's Dream, and Other Stories." She died
in 1888.
1. There were, in very ancient times, two brothers, one of whom was rich,
and the other poor. Christmas was approaching, but the poor man had
nothing in the house for a Christmas dinner; so he went to his brother and
asked him for a trifling gift.
2. The rich man was ill-natured, and when he heard his brother's request
he looked very surly. But as Christmas is a time when even the worst
people give gifts, he took a fine ham down from the chimney, where it was
hanging to smoke, threw it at his brother, and bade him begone and never
to let him see his face again.
3. The poor man thanked his brother for the ham, put it under his arm, and
went his way. He had to pass through a great forest on his way home. When
he had reached the thickest part of it, he saw an old man, with a long,
white beard, hewing timber. "Good evening," said he to him.
4. "Good evening," returned the old man, raising himself up from his work,
and looking at him. "That is a fine ham you are carrying." On this, the
poor man told him all about it.
5. "It is lucky for you," said the old man, "that you have met with me. If
you will take that ham into the land of the dwarfs, the entrance to which
lies just under the roots of this tree, you can make a capital bargain
with it; for the dwarfs are very fond of ham, and rarely get any. But mind
what I say: you must not sell it for money, but demand for it the 'old
hand mill which stands behind the door.' When you come back, I'll show you
how to use it."
6. The poor man thanked his new friend, who showed him the door under a
stone below the roots of the tree, and by this door he entered into the
land of the dwarfs. No sooner had he set his foot in it, than the dwarfs
swarmed about him, attracted by the smell of the ham. They offered him
queer, old-fashioned money and gold and silver ore for it; but he refused
all their tempting offers, and said that he would sell it only for the old
hand mill behind the door.
7. At this, the dwarfs held up their little old hands, and looked quite
perplexed. "We can not make a bargain, it seems," said the poor man, "so
I'll bid you all a good day."
8. The fragrance of the ham had by this time reached the remote parts of
dwarf land. The dwarfs came flocking around in little troops, leaving
their work of digging out precious ores, eager for the ham.
9. "Let him have the old mill," said some of the newcomers; "it is quite
out of order, and he don't know how to use it. Let him have it, and we
will have the ham."
10. So the bargain was made. The poor man took the old hand mill, which
was a little thing not half so large as the ham, and went back to the
woods. Here the old man showed him how to use it. All this had taken up a
great deal of time, and it was midnight before he reached home.
11. "Where in the world have you been?" said his wife. "Here I have been
waiting and waiting, and we have no wood to make a fire, nor anything to
put into the porridge pot for our Christmas supper."
12. The house was dark and cold; but the poor man bade his wife wait and
see what would happen. He placed the little hand mill on the table, and
began to turn the crank. First, out there came some grand, lighted wax
candles, and a fire on the hearth, and a porridge pot boiling over it,
because in his mind he said they should come first. Then he ground out a
tablecloth, and dishes, and spoons, and knives and forks.
13. He was himself astonished at his good luck, as you may believe; and
his wife was almost beside herself with joy and astonishment. Well, they
had a capital supper; and after it was eaten, they ground out of the mill
every possible thing to make their house and themselves warm and
comfortable. So they had a merry Christmas eve and morning.
DEFINITIONS.--l. Tri'-fling, of small value. 5. Hand 'mill, a mill turned
by hand. 6. At-tract'ed, drawn to, allured. 7. Perplexed', puzzled. 8.
Fra'grance, sweetness of smell.
IV. WHY THE SEA IS SALT. (32)
(Concluded.)
1. When the people went by the house to church, the next day, they could
hardly believe their eyes. There was glass in the windows instead of a
wooden shutter, and the poor man and his wife, dressed in nice new
clothes, were seen devoutly kneeling in the church.
2. "There is something very strange in all this," said everyone.
"Something very strange indeed," said the rich man, when three days
afterwards he received an invitation from his once poor brother to a grand
feast. And what a feast it was! The table was covered with a cloth as
white as snow, and the dishes were all of silver or gold. The rich man
could not, in his great house, and with all his wealth, set out such a
table.
3. "Where did you get all these things?" exclaimed he. His brother told
him all about the bargain he had made with the dwarfs, and putting the
mill on the table, ground out boots and shoes, coats and cloaks,
stockings, gowns, and blankets, and bade his wife give them to the poor
people that had gathered about the house to get a sight of the grand feast
the poor brother had made for the rich one.
4. The rich man, was very envious of his brother's good fortune, and
wanted to borrow the mill, intending--for he was not an honest man--never
to return it again. His brother would not lend it, for the old man with
the white beard had told him never to sell or lend it to anyone.
5. Some years went on, and, at last, the possessor of the mill built
himself a grand castle on a rock by the sea, facing the west. Its windows,
reflecting the golden sunset, could be seen far out from the shore. It
became a noted landmark for sailors. Strangers from foreign parts often
came to see this castle and the wonderful mill of which the most
extraordinary tales were told.
6. At length, a great foreign merchant came, and when he had seen the
mill, inquired whether it would grind salt. Being told that it would, he
wanted to buy it; for he traded in salt, and thought that if he owned it
he could supply all his customers without taking long and dangerous
voyages.
7. The man would not sell it, of course. He was so rich now that he did
not want to use it for himself; but every Christmas he ground out food and
clothes and coal for the poor, and nice presents for the little children.
So he rejected all the offers of the rich merchant. The merchant, however,
determined to have it; he bribed one of the man's servants to let him go
into the castle at night, and he stole the mill and sailed away with it in
triumph.
8. He had scarcely got out to sea, before he determined to set the mill to
work. "Now, mill, grind salt," said he; "grind salt with all your
might!--salt, salt, and nothing but salt!" The mill began to grind and the
sailors to fill the sacks; but these were soon full, and in spite of all
that could be done, it began to fill the ship.
9. The dishonest merchant was now very much frightened. What was to be
done? The mill would not stop grinding; and at last the ship was
overloaded, and down it went, making a great whirlpool where it sank. The
ship soon went to pieces; but the mill stands on the bottom of the sea,
and keeps grinding out "salt, salt, nothing but salt!" That is the
reason, say the peasants of Denmark and Norway, why the sea is salt.
DEFINITIONS.--l. De-vout'ly, in a reverent manner. 5. Re--flect'ing,
throwing back light, heat, etc., as a mirror. Land'-mark, an object on
land serving as a guide to seamen. Ex-traor'--di-na-ry, wonderful. 9.
Whirl'-pool, a gulf in which the water moves round in a circle. Peas'ents,
those belonging to the lowest class of tillers of the soil in Europe.
EXERCISES.--What is a "fairy tale"? What fairy people are told about in
this story? How did the poor man find the way to the land of the dwarfs?
Do you think the old man would have told him if the poor man had not been
so polite? How did the poor man treat his rich brother in return for his
unkindness? How was the greed of the dishonest merchant punished? What is
meant by "strangers from foreign parts"? Where are Denmark and Norway?